Denotative Techniques In Huck Finn

The story of two young boys, Huck and Jim, adventure along the Mississippi River throughout Twain’s novel. Twain incorporates the use of satire and humor for the time this was being written in. The purpose of this novel was to show the arrogance and hypocrisy of white slaveholders and how slaves were looked down on. This is seen through Twain's denotative, connotative, and colloquial diction strategies. Multiple denotative strategies can be seen throughout the story, one being in the sentence “[A slave], most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see … It was ‘lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself … I drawed out [because the state let the slave vote]. I says I’ll never vote ag’in” (Twain 27). The …show more content…
Using the word sivilized demonstrates the use of colloquial diction. It would not be denotative, due to the way the author chose to spell it. The strategy was effective because it shows the reader Huck's character and how he is the opposite of civilized since he wasn’t able to spell it correctly, therefore showing he is not educated. A civilized person wouldn’t spell the word wrong, which also shows how much Huck does not care about it. This relates to the purpose because the society in this novel is portrayed as being civilized and superior, which can be seen when they follow a set of rules and tell each other what is wrong and what is right. Judging by how they are civilized, it seems as if they do not have freedom as well, even though they are white. It is the complete opposite of freedom because Huck is being controlled by the arrogant white society that sees themselves as righteous and as if they are above the slaves. Huck takes notice of that and doesn’t want to be associated with being “sivilized” and his choice of spelling shows how he is